WhatsApp warned by Centre over explosive, provocative messages

The government has warned WhatsApp to take stringent action against messages containing rumours, provocative content and stop its circulation, amid the rising incident of mob lynching in the country. The government has asked WhatsApp to control the circulation of such messages which could create law and order problem.

The Centre has warned WhatsApp and asked it take necessary action again provocative content being shared on the app | Image for pictorial representation

The Central government, amid the rising incident of mob lynching in the country, on Tuesday issued a warning to app-based messaging organisation WhatsApp, to take necessary action to stop the circulation of provocative messages on their platform which can create law and order problem. The government has asked the company to keep a check on those messages which can create law and order problem and take necessary action is such content is being found. The move by the government seems to have come after innocent people were killed in several incidents of lynching which have appeared in the recent past.

The IT Ministry has issued a statement in this regard and said that innocent people were killed in several incidents of mob lynching in several states. The deaths have occurred after irresponsible, explosive messages having provocative, rumoured content was circulated on WhatsApp.

The government further said that though it is investigating the cases and trying to find out the reason behind the lynching killings, identifying people behind these cases, however, the presence of viral, provocative and rumoured content is also a major concern. In the past couple of months, several mob lynching incidents have surfaced from Maharashtra, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal.

Recently, the country was shocked after 5 men were brutally assaulted and beaten to death in Maharashtra’s Dhule district. The incident happened when villagers suspected those men as child kidnappers. A mob of several villagers brutally assaulted and kept on thrashing them till the time they died.